Silk

Hi there, My question. I am going to have surgery with Mr Grant Beban. I was wondering if there was any other sleevers out there in NZ, and if Grant had been their surgeon, and if so, what advice they would give me. My Story: I am pencilled in for my sleeve op on Thursday the 29th September, I have to drop off my form to the Hospital to make it 'official'. My story, I am 43 years old, have yo-yo'd with my weight since I was 13, but really really piled the pounds on since having my two darling babies, and starting my own business. I was 226.5 lbs, with a BMI of 39, when I decided to go to my GP and get a referral to a weight loss surgeon back in August. Since then, I have changed three things in my life: 1) my sleep I used to very rarely have a sleep all the way through the night. I have changed my daughters bedroom so that she mostly sleeps through the night, in her own bed now. I also stopped having afternoon naps (which used to be the way I coped, but probably set up a vicious cycle according to the psychologist), and I have stopped reading late into the night. I am also limiting my coffees to the morning. AND we have a new bed, for the first time in our adult lives. 2) I have joined the gym, and now go 3-4 times a week for 45 mins to an hour. Just getting into a good routine of exercising rather than training for anything in particular. I have overcome the gym boredom, by listening to audio books as I walk on the treadmill or cycle on the bike. This also helps me not to read late at night as I am a book addict. 3) A week ago, I started on Optifast, as Grant wants me to do 3 weeks before the op. So far, I have lost 11.5 lbs. I have only told my parents, who bless them are paying for the op, and my sister (who is the best most supportive sister in the whole wide world, and despite always being a size 10 in her life, has gone on a diet in sympathy). And i have 'told' my hubby. Hubby not happy that I am considering this route. He fees it is the cheaters way out and says he believes in me, and my ability to do this on my own without surgery now that I am getting my sleep and have started exercising. We have had a couple of long talks, not easy with two young kids bouncing around. He is still not convinced, and hopes that I will loose enough weight on optifast, with the exercise, that I will choose not to go through with it. BUT, I think I will still go through with it. I know I have struggled with my weight since I was a teenager and have yo-yo'd ever upwards since then. I don't think that even if I DID manage to loose my 90lbs with optifast and exercise, that I would be part of that magical 5% who would keep it off. I am tired of wearing fat clothes, hating photos, and of my family worrying constantly about my health because of my weight. My dad had, and survived a heart attack in his 50's. My Dr thinks this is a sensible idea on my part because of my family history. I suppose my greatest fear is the possibility of death. 1 in 300 sounds quite high to me, and I want to be here for my darling babies and watch them grow up and feel like i have to choose between two gambles to make that happen. Not have the op, and risk a heart attack. Or choose the op and risk the op itself. I nearly died when I hemorrhaged having my son, and have felt blessed to have this second chance. Wouldn't it be a bummer to 'throw it away' if I died having this op, because of a possibility I might die later at some date from a heart attack. Hmmm. It has helped so much finding this site and reading everyone else's stories. The 299 who didn't die And I LOVE hearing about how people are now living life to the full. So, I need to pluck up the courage to go and drop off the booking form at the hospital next week, and to overcome these last minute doubts. ... so it would be great to hear from people in NZ who have been there, and done that

Hi Marka, Thanks for your reply, good to hear from you. It was good to get some of my fears off my chest, that whole hemorrhaging thing was really scary, and while intellectually I can reason that it was a TOTALLY different context, I don't know, it is just still 'out there' like a little black cloud of worry I guess it will just be there until I am on the other side of the op, whatever my experience is like. thanks for your support